NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 351 



tably by A. J. Stone (1900), and in the Mount McKinley region 

 by Charles Sheldon. The natural enemies are chiefly the wolf, 

 less often the lynx (Sheldon), and Lee emphasizes particularly 

 the depredations of grizzly bears, which ambush them and suc- 

 ceed often in killing them. During winter, when snowstorms 

 cover their upland pasturage, they may lie up for days among 

 sheltering rocks without venturing forth to feed. Their range 

 is usually above timberline on the open slopes where they can 

 readily detect the approach of danger from below. Two 

 young are usually produced at a birth, some time between 

 May 1 and August 1. "The males and females are hardly 

 ever found together during the summer months. The males 

 generally inhabit the roughest and highest peaks, while the 

 ewes and lambs keep along the high plateaus" (Lee, in Horna- 

 day, 1901). 



Except for food and trophies these sheep are little hunted, 

 for the coat even in winter is so brittle that it is not in demand. 

 Also since their area of distribution is mainly outside tracts 

 used for grazing domestic sheep, the bighorns of this type are 

 relatively safe from infection with scabies, which has proved 

 so destructive to their more southern relatives in the United 

 States. Nevertheless, there is always danger of introducing 

 new diseases where domestic animals are brought in. Thus 

 Maj. Allan Brooks (1923) writes that "lumpy -jaw was very 

 prevalent in the range of Ovis dalli and its subspecies (north 

 side of Stikine River) up to 1908, but is now apparently 

 stamped out. " 



KENAI SHEEP 



OVIS DALLI KENAIENSIS J. A. Allen 



Ovis dalli kenaiensis J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 16, p. 145, 1902 

 ("Head of Sheep Creek, Kenai Peninsula,' 5 Alaska). 



This race, confined to the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, is 

 similar externally in its white pelage to typical 0. d. dalli. It 

 is distinguished, however, on the basis of cranial characters: 

 basilar length less; molar series significantly shorter (70-72 

 mm.); basioccipital narrower; angle between basioccipital axis 

 and palatal axis apparently greater (Cowan, 1940). 



The sheep on the Kenai Peninsula constitute a population 

 now quite isolated from their mainland relatives and charac- 

 terized by slight though significant differences in certain cranial 



